Outside In
by Shinji Shazaki
Summary: Epilogue: So what happens after the fight?  Here's the end of it all.  Slash warning one more time.  Read, review, and I hope you've enjoyed.
1. On the Night Horizon

Outside In

Prologue: On the Night Horizon

Disclaimer: Disney owns "Kim Possible." I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.

It started a few months ago. Nothing was out of the ordinary, really. She and Ron would get called out on missions, and many of them involved Dr. Drakken and his outlandish plans for world domination. It was normal. Drakken would explain his plans and demand that Shego attack her with everything she had while he tried to run. Ron would attend to this, usually by wresting the stolen goods from Drakken's hands or by making sure he didn't press the button to his ill-conceived doomsday device. All of that was normal.

Fighting Shego was where things became strange. When their green eyes met, something panged. A twinge ran swiftly in and out of her chest—a feeling? With every blow that was blocked and their eyes alighted on the other's, the twinge happened. Then it grew to encompass every passing glance, every bare touch. It soon became an almost constant ache; a throb that intensified as the simple thought of Shego entered her mind.

A month ago, she suddenly remembered what the twinge was—why it hurt so much more when Shego landed a blow. That twinge was something she had felt two years ago when she was sixteen. She had felt a pulling in her chest when she saw Josh Mankey—a weaker feeling than the throbbing she felt now, but it was the same kind of feeling. Once she realized this, she tried even harder to defeat Shego. She wanted to drive the thought of her enemy from her mind, to forget that she was in love.

So many nights were spent without sleep while she thought. What was the reason this was happening, she wondered night after night. Why was she falling in love with Shego? Could she think of any reasons? She tried not to think of them in her efforts to forget, but they were seared in her thoughts and her memories. Shego was strong and confident for one. She had always looked for that in a person, even if she was just looking for someone to be friends with. Ron was strong in spirit and confident most of the time, just as Wade was.

But Shego was different than them somehow. She was far more intelligent than she led many to believe, considering that she worked for Dr. Drakken. And—even though she didn't want to think like this—Shego was just as alluring as she always flaunted to be. But why was she suddenly thinking of Shego like this? Shego had never given her any reason for her to fall in love with the inky-haired woman.

Shego had only been Shego in all of the years that she had known her—and maybe that was why she had fallen in love. She had been drawn in by the truth that Shego was not afraid to hide. It was just the opposite of how she was and exactly how she wished she could be. That was really the reason. All the admiration she felt for Shego and her brazen attitude had deepened further than she would have thought possible. And yet…wasn't anything possible for a Possible?

----------

She wondered why she always had to do everything the hard way. She could see that Kim was feeling those strange jerks in her chest at the meeting of their eyes. She could feel that Kim was doubling her efforts, trying to defeat her to push her from her mind. She had never had so many bruised bones in her life.

The only reason she was so battered was because she would neither fight back with the same abandon that Kim used, but nor would she accept defeat. She knew that they had fallen in love with each other and Kim was desperately trying to ignore that. What was the point of that, though? She wasn't going to ignore being in love with Kim. It was undeniable. Kim overwhelmed her thoughts. She had agreed to the most juvenile and idiotic schemes that Drakken could come up with simply to see Kim.

You'd have to be blind, she always thought, to not see how it was impossible to resist Kim. She was smart, headstrong, and more than able to hold her own, not to mention she was a very lovely young lady. Fighting against her, learning everything about her to try and defeat her—Kim was an integral part of her life. She couldn't do anything but fall in love with her. Because of that, she schemed.

----------

The moon wasn't full, but it was bright enough to paint the ground white. Kim Possible ran as quietly as she could, turning sharply into an alleyway. She glanced out of the alleyway, her breath coming faster than was necessary.

"_'Go to Middleton Park at one-fifteen tonight'_," she thought. "_'Make sure you aren't followed.' That's what the message said. But…why did I get e-mail from Shego? Is this a trap? It must be—if it isn't, that what is it? Could she know? That can't be it. No one knows. No one can know_." The thoughts still repeating in a loop, Kim set out from the alleyway again. She reached the park and looked at her watch. It was one-fifteen. She glanced about and found no one.

"Shego!" she called out. "Where are you? What is this about?"

"You shouldn't shout so much, Kimmy," Shego said softly, leaping lightly from the tree Kim stood near. She looked up towards the waning half-moon, her arms crossed under her chest. "It _is_ one in the morning."

"You're the one who e-mailed me," Kim snapped. "You told me to come here at one-fifteen alone, so I'm here. The question is, why did you call me here?" Shego looked down from the moon and met Kim's eyes. Kim's hands twitched and her breath caught, but she managed to not break the gaze. Shego took a step towards the red-haired young woman; Kim took a step back. They repeated this until Kim had been backed against a tree.

Kim raised her hands in a stance, but Shego pushed them back to the other woman's sides. The prolonged contact sent sparks across Kim's neck and down her back. She hoped that Shego, who was still holding her hands, wouldn't notice the goosebumps rising on her skin. Shego leaned closer, as if drawing close for a kiss.

"Are you in love with me, Kim?" she asked. Kim felt the blush cover her neck and face.

"What?" she sputtered, trying to throw a disgusted tone into her voice and failing miserably. "What are you—how could you think—no!" Shego laughed, and the huskiness of the sound made Kim want to kiss her then and there.

"You know, you're cute when you blush like that," Shego chuckled. "That just shows me that you are in love with me."

"Why are you here?" Kim demanded. "Are you trying to mess with my head so I won't be able to fight you?"

"Well, a little bit," Shego said rather thoughtfully. "But I'm mostly here to seduce you so I can tell you that I'm in love with you after we have wild, passionate sex." The blush on Kim's face matched her hair. She stuttered wildly for a few minutes more before realizing what Shego had said.

"You love me?" she asked, thoroughly bewildered.

"Did I say that?" Shego murmured. "Hmm. I can't say I'm lying." Her hands lifted from Kim's wrists and were laid upon the young woman's cheeks. She leaned in, but Kim met her halfway. They remained locked in that kiss for a good thirty seconds before pulling away. Green eyes met green eyes; staring longingly into each other for many minutes.

"You do know that I'm not going to stop being evil just because we're going to get to know each other a little more intimately," Shego said, a somewhat lecherous grin on her face.

"I already guessed that," Kim replied. "But just because we're girlfriends doesn't mean I'm going to take it easy on you when Drakken makes you work on another dumb scheme for world domination."

"Once I have enough money to retire young and beautiful, I'm throwing him to the guards at a state penitentiary. He won't be able to escape without me. But you can't expect anyone to be able to hold me in a prison. You should tell that to the police one day."

"I will. Listen, I think I should get home before we get too caught up in things."

"Who said that's a bad thing?"

----------

It was six in the morning when Kim got home. The sun was only beginning to peak when she managed to slip back into her bedroom through the window. Her lips were slightly bruised and her hair was mussed. Despite this, she crawled back into bed with a pleased smile and the world off of her shoulders.

----------

Shego sat on the edge of the roof of Drakken's latest lair, her legs crossed and one foot kicking as she hummed a soft tune. A smile crossed her faintly bruised lips as the sun rose up and shone down upon Middleton. For that moment—that brief, shining moment—the sun reflected the bright and glittering peace that love gave to the world. Once the sun had crested and the fantastic flare of light that accompanied it had failed, that moment was gone.

_—to be continued—_


	2. Truth Trial

Outside In

C1: Truth/Trial

Disclaimer: Disney owns "Kim Possible." I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.

Someone knocked at the door around two in the afternoon. Kim stood from the couch, putting down her magazine on her way. Jim and Tim continued to lie on the floor, watching an older movie in what they called preparation for the sequel. To Kim's surprise, her most beloved friend, Ron Stoppable, was standing outside the door with Rufus the naked mole rat sitting on Ron's shoulder.

"Allowance Sunday!" Ron cried jovially, waving a twenty-dollar bill clenched tightly in his fist. "All-you-can-eat buffet at Bueno Nacho, my treat! Let's go!" Pausing only to slip on her shoes and a jacket against the early December's chilling snow, Kim called her leaving and walked away with Ron. After some time, as they drew near to the Bueno Nacho, Ron noticed Kim's somewhat permanent smile.

"You're chipper," he said, leaning forwards and down to stare at Kim's smile at a different angle. "What made you so happy?" Kim's smile didn't wane, but she blushed a soft rose. Ron raised an eyebrow and shared a glance with Rufus.

"Boyfriend," Rufus squeaked simply.

"It is not," Kim shot back. But she had hesitated before saying this, and Ron and Rufus shared another look.

"What's his name?" Ron asked, a seemingly knowing grin curling his lips.

"I don't have a boyfriend," Kim said in return. "I'm so not kidding." Ron and Rufus again shared a knowing look, holding their heads high as if waiting for Kim to break down and spill. Kim heaved a sigh, but didn't say a thing to confirm what the boys had said. It was true, really. She didn't have a boyfriend, and she wouldn't ever want one. A new smile curled her lips. With someone like Shego at her side, how could she want a boyfriend?

Shrieks and screams broke the thread. Just to the left of Bueno Nacho, someone was screaming for two things: the thief that had stolen her purse, and the small child that had been shoved into heavy traffic by said thief. The child, a little boy, had been holding a stuffed rabbit when he was pushed, and it flew farther into the street when he hit the ground.

The boy toddled faithfully towards his toy and unknowingly into lethal danger. A pickup truck was speeding towards him; the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. Kim automatically started forwards, praying that she could just reach the boy and push him aside in time. The crowd on the sidewalk, however, was typical for a Saturday afternoon. It was thick, jostling, and as easy to get through as a group of crazed mothers on Christmas Eve at a toy store. Kim shouted for people to move, but even if her shouts had not been lost in the screams of the boy's mother, she would not reach the boy.

The driver of the truck woke from all of the screams and slammed on his brakes, twisting the wheel hopelessly. A blur suddenly rushed into the street. When the smoke from the screeching tires faded, the screams went quiet. The boy was nowhere to be found. A new cry rose up from the boy's mother. She ran to where the boy was standing, holding her purse in his arms with his stuffed rabbit. She fell to her knees, sobbing in joy, ignoring the unconscious thief on the ground a few feet behind her son.

Kim watched someone walked through the crowd. She could only see a light brown cap, but she knew it was the person she wanted to watch. When they broke away from the crowd, she could see a dark green, long-sleeved shirt and brown slacks. They walked into the Bueno Nacho; Kim grabbed Ron's wrist and dragged him along.

"Oh, it's you," the cashier said. "One large order of nachos and two tacos to go, right? That'll be ten seventy." By the time Kim and Ron entered the Bueno Nacho, the person was already walking back towards the door with a bag in hand. The brown cap was pulled low on the person's face—Kim couldn't even see their eyes—and the sleeves of the shirt seemed longer than normal. Kim watched them leave, standing rather still as the person walked away down the street and vanished into the crowd. Ron had walked off to the counter and was placing an order.

"Ron, listen, I need to talk to you," Kim said once the two sat down. "You should know something."

"Is this about your mystery boyfriend?" Ron interrupted. Kim looked away, crossing her arms over her stomach and leaning back into the booth seat.

"Sort of," she conceded. "Ron, how…comfortable are you with gay people?" Ron and Rufus cocked their heads in unison, giving Kim a very searching look.

"Girlfriend?" Rufus asked to his blond cohort.

"Are you saying you have a girlfriend, KP?" Ron asked what Rufus couldn't. Kim blushed and looked up towards the ceiling. Ron and Rufus smirked at each other. "OK, so who is it?" Kim let out a deep sigh.

"Someone…someone you don't think I'd be in love with," she muttered. Ron paled almost immediately.

"Please, please, pleasepleaseplease don't say it's Bonnie," he begged, leaning across the table and grabbing Kim's hands. Kim felt a bit heartened that Ron's first reaction wasn't against Shego.

"It's not Bonnie," she said reassuringly. "It's…um, well, it's Shego." There was a pause where Rufus fell face-first into Ron's grande size nacho order. When he surfaced, he and Ron stared rather vacantly at Kim.

"Shego?" the human asked. "The same Shego that we've been rumbling with for three years since we were fifteen? The same Shego that works for your arch-foe Doctor Drakken? That Shego?" Kim nodded, having sunk lower into her seat with each of Ron's words. Ron blinked a few times before leaning forwards and starting in on the nachos with Rufus. "OK."

"I know we've been enemies for years but—did you say OK?" Kim asked. Ron nodded at her, his hands becoming coated with cheese as he gorged. "Just like that, OK?" Ron nodded again. "Ron…thanks." Ron nodded once again. "Listen, I need to go check something out. Thanks again."

"You sure you don't want any nachos?" Ron asked as Kim stood.

"No, I'm good," she declined graciously. "I had a good lunch just before you came over." She said her goodbyes while Ron waved a cheesy hand. She walked out of the Bueno Nacho and looked about. There was no sign of the person she had seen walking in and out of the fast food restaurant. Kim knew that the person had rushed into the street a few minutes ago and saved the young boy's life. That same person had knocked the thief unconscious and placed the purse by the boy.

These events had happened within seconds. The person had somehow beaten the speeding truck, grabbed the dashing thief, and returned the boy, purse, and purse-snatcher to the curb before the truck had stopped skidding. Kim wondered how a person could move so fast if they weren't one of the Bebe robots. Unfortunately, she could not find the person, and thusly could not even hope to ask what had happened. She started to walk back towards her home, hands in her pockets to ward off the chill of the wind.

Atop the apartment building near the Bueno Nacho, the person that Kim had been wondered about crouched low on the edge of the roof. They watched Kim walk through the town, sharp eyes able to see Kim clearly from six stories up. A few minutes later, Kim had turned a corner and was lost behind another building. The person smiled slightly, lips barely quirking up before they finished devouring the food they had purchased from the Bueno Nacho. Then, they crouched even lower before vanishing.

----------

"Wait, what in the hell are 'Bebe's?" Kim almost snorted with laughter. She and Shego stood in a nightclub, and more specifically in a booth just off the dance floor. Shego had her arms around Kim rather possessively, but now held the other woman at arms' length to stare at her skeptically.

"I've been meaning to ask," Kim explained. "A few years ago, Drakken brought out these creepy super-sonic androids that he called Bebe's. Why weren't you around?"

"Probably a paid vacation down in Cancun," Shego replied. "What a moron. Androids turn on you at the drop of a hat." Kim looked at Shego with the same skeptical look that Shego had been giving her.

"And you know this, how?" she asked. Shego shrugged.

"Aviarius used robots, remember?" she answered. "When I was back with—" She shuddered visibly. "—_Team Go_, he tried to make perfect bird-women. He actually called us to save him. Now, go on. So this person saves a kid from getting squished and stops a purse-thief. Did you stop them?"

"No," Kim admitted grudgingly. "There wasn't a reason to stop them, really. I also needed to talk to Ron about…you and me."

"This isn't where you tell me we have to break up because your dopey sidekick is creeped out by me, is it?" Shego asked, an edge to her voice.

"No, no!" Kim replied quickly. "He's not creeped out by you! Scared of you, yes, but not creeped out! He's been my best friend for years. I just wanted to tell him."

"You need his approval?"

"That's not it, Shego. We tell each other everything, you know? I would have felt bad if I didn't tell him and he heard about it by some rumor, or he walked in on us doing something."

"Like each other?" Kim blushed.

"You know, I'm staying with my parents for the winter holiday," she said. "They kind of expect me home at a certain time."

"And that means…_what_ to me?" Shego asked with a seductive grin.

"It means I would appreciate it if you didn't take me to a nice hotel room and all but rip my clothes off." Shego looked considering for a moment.

"Was that reverse psychology?" Kim smiled impishly at her and kissed her. Shego grinned, took Kim by the wrist, and the two quickly left the nightclub.

----------

Kim smiled as she walked home, looking up at the bright stars in the cloudless sky. On an impulse, she twirled on one foot with a faint giggle, kicking at a piece of snow on the sidewalk. The red-haired woman hugged herself, smiling broadly and humming a tune. However, when the ground shook under her feet and the sound of an explosion hit her ears, her tranquil mood was shattered.

She looked up on instinct to see where smoke might be rising from the explosion and followed the black clouds. It took a moment for her mind to register what she was seeing when she rounded the corner and saw her family's house burning. Kim swallowed back a scream and pulled out her cell phone, suddenly wishing that she had taken her Kimmunicator that night.

"_911, what's your emergency?_" the operator answered.

"There's been an explosion at my parents' house!" Kim replied frantically. "Everything's on fire! For God's sake, send a fire truck or something!"

"_Calm down_," the operator said. "_Where is the fire located?_"

"42nd High Street!" Kim answered. "The Possible house!"

"_The Possible house? I'm sending a fire unit and paramedics over there now. They'll be there as soon as possible_." Kim looked back up at the burning house. Part of the roof caved in from the fire and caused the flames to jump a few feet higher. Someone inside—Kim recognized the voice as her mother's—screamed for help. The phone slipped from Kim's hand as she broke out in a run. She rammed the door with her shoulder, breaking the already weakened hinges and bursting into the fire.

"MOM!" the heroine cried. "DAD! JIM! TIM! WHERE ARE YOU?" She ran towards her parents' room, dodging around the flames as fast as she could. The door was open, as it almost always had been, and Kim ran into the room. Her mother knelt on the floor, cradling her husband's head in her arms. She turned when Kim touched her shoulder.

"Oh, Kim!" the older woman gasped. "I don't know what happened! We were just going to bed when something exploded! Your father's hurt—a piece of the ceiling hit him in the head!"

"It's all right, Mom," Kim said nervously, draping her father's arm over her shoulders and heaving him up. "Come on, we've got to get out of here before the whole roof comes down. Here, take Dad. I'll find Jim and Tim." She transferred her father to the older woman and took off at a fast jog. Kim glanced in every room that had an open door, wondering where the twin brothers could be. Grateful that the stairs had not yet caught fire, she ran up them and slid to a stop outside the twins' bedroom.

"Jim!" she shouted. "Tim! Are you two in there?"

"Kim?" one of the boys—Jim—shouted back through the closed door. "Kim, help! Tim's trapped under our bookcase and I can't open the door!"

"Get as far from it as you can!" Kim ordered. After a moment, she backed up to ram the door. The ceiling above groaned ominously, but Kim kept her full attention at rescuing her brothers. She started to dash, but barely got in two steps before a section of the roof collapsed onto her. The weight of the plaster and wood forced the air from her lungs and fell hard enough to cause Kim's head to reflexively crack down against the floor.

She looked up at the door, grabbing at the carpet weakly to try and pull herself free. Her mind was already slipping, though. The fire didn't seem as loud as before, and her vision was blurring. She felt strong vibrations in the floor and wondered if it was going to fall away under her. Kim looked to the side, towards the stairs, and saw a figure running towards her. The person kicked opened the door and bolted inside. They returned a moment later with Jim and an unconscious Tim in arm.

"Kim!" Jim shouted. The person stopped and put the boys down, walking over to Kim.

"Get them out of here," Kim rasped, her words broken by the smoke in her mouth and lungs. "Go!" She couldn't see the person's eyes because of the brown cap on their head, but she could vaguely see a small grin on their face. Kim would have gasped when she saw the person's hands reach out from their sleeves, but she was only able to cough weakly.

The person grabbed two places of the fallen ceiling where the flames had not reached with clawed hands. They started to lift the massive chunk of plaster and wood. While they were able to actually lift the chunk, it was a slow rising with not a little effort. Kim, amazed though she was at the feat of inhuman strength, let her head fall to the floor and blacked out.

_—to be continued—_


	3. A Quiet Shadow

Outside In

C2: A Quiet Shadow

Disclaimer: Disney owns "Kim Possible." I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.

Doctor Drakken hummed to himself, walking through the halls of his most recent lair. He was quite proud of himself, and the moment he saw Shego, he was going to tell her the good news. Before he realized what happened, however, he was slammed against a wall with an arm hard against his throat.

"What the hell is this?" Shego snarled, holding a newspaper in front of the blue-skinned man. The headline blared: "Explosion Rocks Middleton! Kim Possible Targeted!"

"I was just about to tell you," Drakken wheezed. "Last night, I planted an explosive device in Kim Possible's room without her knowing it."

"She's in the hospital!" Shego growled. "What's wrong with you?"

"You were out last night," Drakken protested. "I would have let you push the button, but you weren't here." Shego threw the paper aside, took a step back, and punched the man in the face. She did not let him fall to the floor, instead keeping hold of his collar and punching him repeatedly in the face and torso. The inept man whimpered piteously when Shego's hand lit with green flames and drew back.

Shego hesitated. She held her attack, breathing heavily, glaring at Drakken. When her fist began to move, Drakken screamed. He waited rather patiently for death, but dared to open his eyes when death didn't come to him. Shego's fist was buried in a smoking hole in the wall beside his head, and she was still glaring at him.

"What did I do?" Drakken sniveled.

----------

Kim groaned and pushed herself up to a sitting position. She rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes to block out the brightness of the clean white room to remember what had happened. Flashes of flames and shouting came back to her immediately, but it wasn't what she was searching for. Who was that person in the cap? She had already seen them earlier that day—the same person who had stopped the purse snatching by Bueno Nacho.

After a minute or two, she opened her eyes to look around. She was sitting in a hospital bed, and Ron was sitting in a chair next to the bed. He was leaning in the chair, his head lolling back and forth with each of his snores. Rufus lay curled in the young man's lap, snoring in tandem with him.

"Ron?" Kim asked. Rufus woke at her voice first, climbing up Ron's shirt to casually slap at his face until he awoke. The blond man was groggy, but perked up immediately when he realized that Kim was awake.

"KP!" he said loudly, jovially. "Oh, God! It's so good to see you awake! Everyone was so worried."

"I've had worse," Kim murmured, smiling rather wearily. "Ron, what happened? The person in the hat—are they still here?" Ron paled, shaking his head slowly.

"They're at the police station," he said.

"What?" Kim demanded, sitting up straighter. "Why?"

"I don't know why," he answered. "All I know is that your mom called me and said you were here, and when I got here, Jim was just sitting out in front of your room. I asked him what happened and he kept saying that there was a monster that attacked you."

"That's impossible! They saved my life! If it wasn't for them, Jim and Tim would be dead too!"

"Kim, that's all that I know—that's what your brother said. What are you doing?" Kim threw the blanket off of herself and stood from the bed. Glad that she had not been changed into hospital garb, Kim started for the door. Ron stood from his chair and grabbed Kim's shoulder. "Kim, what are you doing?"

"This isn't right," she replied tersely. "Whoever they are, they saved my life. I have to know why the police put them in jail. And I have another bad feeling about who started that fire." She walked out of the door before Ron could say anything else, and he did not choose to follow.

----------

"Ah, Miss Possible! Good to see you weren't injured last night."

"I was told that you arrested somebody last night near my house. I'd like to see them." The police captain looked confused for a moment, but gave the young woman a smile and a nod.

"I don't see why not," she said, taking a ring of keys from her belt. "Even a monster like this thing can't get through arm and leg manacles." Kim stared at the other woman questioningly, but the captain didn't elaborate as she led Kim down a hallway. When they came to a room with a solid steel door, the captain stopped, unlocked the door, and flicked the light switch next to the door.

"Wake up," the captain said shortly. "You have a visitor." Kim looked towards the slab of metal that constituted a bed in the cell, but there was no one lying on it. However, there was a lump under a rough brown blanket in the corner. Something silver poked out from under the blanket slowly until the blanket fell off of the person's face. Kim would have rushed from the room if she wasn't so versed in the strange, but even her experience couldn't keep her from letting out a small gasp.

A very tired looking young woman looked up at Kim, and Kim was sure that her eyes would have been glowing if the lights weren't on. Animalistic gold eyes peered over the blanket, and short, crudely cut silver hair fell around her face. Cat-like ears twitched on the top of the woman's head, turning alternately at Kim and the police captain. She yawned widely, obvious fangs glinting in the light as her tongue lolled out slightly. Without saying a word, she closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall.

"She hasn't said a word," the captain muttered. "She howled like a wolf when the paramedics tried to take you, though." Both women noticed something silver slither out from under the blanket. The captain pushed Kim behind her and started to draw the handgun from her shoulder harness.

"Wait," Kim said quietly, putting her hand on the officer's arm. She cautiously took a step around the other woman, walking towards the woman in the corner. Though she wasn't sure how she knew what it was, Kim watched the woman's silver-furred tail reach out from under the blanket and start to draw in the dirt on the floor.

With the captain standing anxiously at the door with her hand on her gun, Kim crouched down near the silver-haired woman and watched her tail. It slowly wrote out three crudely crafted letters: "TAO." Kim stared at the letters for a time before looking up at the woman. The woman was looking at her over the blanket, her eyes barely open. Kim looked back at the letters again.

"T, A, and O," she murmured. "T, A, and O. Tao. Tao?" She looked up to the woman. "Is your name Tao?" The woman nodded very slightly, sweeping the letters away with her tail. She started to write something else, Kim reading off the letters as she went. "H, U, N, G, R, Y." Kim smiled soothingly at Tao. "Are you hungry?" Tao nodded again. Kim laughed and looked to the police captain. The woman in uniform sighed, shrugged her shoulders, and turned to acquire some food.

"Can you speak at all?" Kim asked. Tao shook her head. "Is it because of the smoke from last night?" Tao shook her head again. "You just can't talk?" A nod. Kim smiled with a sigh. "All right, all right. Can you tell me what happened last night? Why are you here now?" Tao blinked and looked down at her tail, beginning to write.

_Helped,_ she wrote slowly. _Helped you._

"So why are you here now?"

_I was scared._

"You got scared? Oh, the ambulance siren. What happened?"

_I hurt someone._

"You hurt someone? How?"

_I hit them. I thought they would hurt you_.

"Oh. Why didn't you write that for the police?"

_I didn't get a chance._

"Did one of the officers hit you with a stun gun?" Tao nodded. The police captain walked back into the room carrying a tray with a sandwich and a cup of water on it. She handed it to Kim, who in turn held it out to Tao. The silver-haired woman ate the sandwich slowly, deliberately. Kim turned to look at the police captain.

"She said that she hit somebody last night," she explained. "Can you tell me what happened?" The woman sighed heavily, staring at Tao.

"When I first arrived with my partner, the paramedics and the firefighters hadn't gotten there yet," she said. "Your mother and father, Kim, had just gotten out of the fire. We were waiting for you to come out with your brothers when a window on the second floor blew out. We thought it was just from the heat, but then she landed right in the middle of us. She was carrying your brothers—one in each arm—and you on her back.

"Your mother took your brothers, and one of them woke up enough to stand on his own. I was about to take you, but then the paramedics and the firefighters arrived. One of the paramedics tried to take you, but she hit him. Clawed three gashes in his faces and dislocated his jaw. My partner reacted by jamming a tazer in her neck. And here we are now."

"Tao was scared," Kim said in turn. "She thought that something was going to hurt me—she was trying to protect me."

"Why would she do that?" the captain asked. "She doesn't even know you." Kim looked at Tao, who was now sipping at the water.

"I don't know," she answered. "But I don't think she really meant to hurt anyone." The captain looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Animal instinct," she murmured. When Kim looked at her in question, she continued. "Look at her. She's more animal than human. There must be something about you that made her protect you." Kim said nothing in response to this. She instead watched Tao silently. The silver-haired woman seemed more alert, her ears turning towards the door behind the captain and Kim.

"Tao, do you have any family?" Kim asked. "A last name?" Tao nodded, looking at her tail. Kim followed her gaze and stared for many minutes at the name that Tao wrote down. The captain noticed Kim's stupor and dared to ask.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "What does 'Psymon' mean?" Kim shook herself slightly, still staring at the name.

"Psymon," she murmured. "I've heard of the name Psymon. There were old articles about a biogenetic scientist named Ion Psymon—she's a genius. But the last article about her was something I found in a library newsreel from twenty years ago. She had been working with a military scientist named Sean Green, and she just dropped off the face of the earth. How can you be her…daughter?" Tao made no move to reply with her tail, instead drawing the appendage back under the blanket. Kim turned to the captain, sighing confusedly.

"I think it would be a good idea to release her into your custody," the older woman said. "If she's as tame as you say she is, then you should be able to make her go home." Kim frowned, her humanitarian mind angered by the captain's words.

"You're making her sound like a vicious animal," she whispered.

"She is a vicious animal," the captain replied in a harsh, loud tone. She shoved two keys into Kim's hand before turning and walking out of the room. Kim watched her leave, stunned at the words. She turned to Tao, but the young woman showed nothing on her face.

"Come on, give me your hands," Kim said gently. "You'll have to show me where your mother lives so I can tell the police you didn't run away." Tao took the second key once Kim had unlocked the manacles around her wrists and unlocked the leg-manacles herself. She stood up and brushed the dirt from her brown pants and green shirt. Her tail wrapped around her waist, hidden under the long green shirt. Rather self-consciously, she reached up and touched her cat-like ears.

"You can't hide them?" Kim asked. Tao shook her head, but walked to the door anyway. As they walked through the hall, the overnight inmates—drunkards, brawlers, and burglars—stared at Tao.

"Freak!" A metal cup filled with water flew from a cell and hit Tao in the back of the head. She paused for only a moment, but kept walking. When she stepped into the main lobby, everything went completely silent. The officers froze the moment they saw her. The uncomfortable silence might have escalated into a more violent version of what had just happened in the cell block, had the doors to the station not been broken forcibly down.

"Get the hell in there!" A beaten, bruised, and bloody Doctor Drakken was thrown headlong into the front desk, followed quickly by a raging Shego. She curled one fist, green flames bursting into view. Drakken whimpered, scooting uselessly into the desk to try and avoid Shego's growing wrath.

"Shego, stop!" Kim shouted. Shego froze, turning to look at Kim. Her breath was ragged with her dissipating rage, and the flames around her hand hadn't faded. She turned, taking a step towards Kim, the disbelief before joy evident on her face. The police, however, did not know that Shego felt joy seeing Kim was all right.

"Freeze!" sixteen voices cried in unison. Handguns were drawn all around the room, sights set on Shego. The moment was too far-gone. The police saw that Shego had beaten Drakken, and that she was staring at Kim Possible with disbelief on her face. Everything clicked in their minds, for what they knew. Kim looked at the officers, wishing to scream for them to stop, to hold their fire. However, she knew that by the time she took a breath, Shego would have quite a few rounds in her chest.

Kim felt something brush by her side, turning to look at Tao. The woman was gone, and a thud made her stop her glance less than halfway. She turned back only in time to see Shego vanish suddenly. The police looked around confusedly, wondering where Tao and Shego had gone. The captain took charge first.

"Outside, now!" she shouted. The officers rushed out the door, guns up and searching for a target. Kim followed, standing just outside the door as the officers charged down the few stairs and out onto the sidewalk. Tao dropped down noiselessly in front of Kim and grabbed her, easily pulling the other woman onto her back. Too stunned for words, Kim wrapped her arms around Tao's neck and held tightly as the silver-haired woman sprang up and somehow latched onto the wall with just her bare hands and feet.

She jumped up over the edge of the building, landing next to an out of breath and rather stunned Shego. When she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, Kim breathlessly translated for her.

"Grab hold of me," she gasped. Shego shook her head, too astounded by the events to comprehend. Tao grabbed her and, just as easily as Kim, pulled the woman onto Kim's back. She put her hands to the ground and started to run on all fours, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with unbelievable ease and speed. For the first time in her life, and only because of her flame and smoke-weakened state, Kim passed out from the chaotic action around her.

_—to be continued—_


	4. Walking Alone

Outside In

C3: Walking Alone

Disclaimer: Disney owns "Kim Possible." I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.

Kim tightened her fingers around what was closest, trying to discern what had happened by touching something. It felt familiar, and when her fingers squeezed, someone else's fingers squeezed back on her wrist.

"You awake, Kim?" The voice was also familiar, but Kim's head still throbbed with pain.

"Shego?" she mumbled.

"I'm right here, princess," Shego said in return. "How do you feel?"

"Terrible," Kim answered. "Where are we? What happened to Tao?"

"That's her name?" Shego asked to no one. "I've been asking her what her name is, but she wouldn't answer."

"She's mute," Kim murmured. "Where are we?"

"A forest," Shego answered. "We've been walking for about three hours. You know, I hate seeing those glowing eyes pop out of nowhere, but she's the only person I can follow. It got dark an hour ago." Kim lifted her head from Shego's shoulder and looked about. The ground was white with snow, and the bare trees seemed to glow with the moonlight. Up ahead, Tao had stopped and turned about. Her eyes glowed briefly when they caught the moonlight, but the shine faded after an instant.

"You heard right," Shego muttered. "Our little Kimmie's awake now. Do you think you can walk on your own now?" She stopped and carefully loosened her grip on Kim's arms and legs, letting the younger woman slide from her back. Kim sighed, rubbing her eyes and forehead.

"What on earth happened?" she asked. The memory rushed back to her abruptly and she gasped. "Shego! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Shego replied almost smugly. "When have you ever known me to be hurt? Even you haven't been able to put a scratch on me, Kimmie." Kim ignored the jib and looked to Tao.

"How did you do that?" she asked. "You were standing next to me one moment and then you _and_ Shego were gone." Tao smiled rather sadly, her hands in her pockets. The tail around her waist reached down and wrote something in the snow. Kim walked a few somewhat shaky steps and crouched down to read what had been written.

_There is a snake inside me,_ the words said.

"How is that possible?" Shego asked, having read over Kim's shoulder.

"Tao is the daughter of Ion Psymon, a biogenetic scientist," Kim answered, standing straight. "Tao was biogenetically engineered. The genes she was spliced with must have be a mix of human and animal. Tao, where have you been leading us?" Tao brushed the words away in the snow and wrote new ones.

_My mother_, the words said. Without writing any further, she turned away and started to walk again. Kim and Shego followed her, unsure of what else to do. They walked for many more minutes until they came to the bottom of a hill. Shego stopped, looking about with narrowed eyes. She clenched her fists, green flames encircling her hands.

"There's something out here with us," she murmured. Instinctively, Kim drew closer to her while falling into her familiar fighting stance. Tao looked over her shoulder at the two other women before looking around. She leaned back her head, took a deep breath, and let out an echoing wolf's howl. Shego whirled to look at her in rage.

"Are you insane?" she demanded. "Why the hell did you do that?" Tao smiled slightly and put a finger to her lips. Another howl echoed back through the cold night air. The sound of crunching snow accompanied it only moments later, and without a moment's pause, a massive wolf slammed into Tao. Shego and Kim jumped towards the two wrestling beings, but they stopped immediately when a strange sound reached their ears. Tao was laughing.

She soon parted from the beast, sitting in the snow and laughing as she brushed the snow from her silver hair. She pointed up the hill. Kim and Shego turned and saw that a light now shone from a previously unnoticeable house. A shadow was cast from the light and stretched down the hill.

"I see you've met my daughter," a voice called. "Come inside. There's no sense in standing outside when the snow is about to start again." The shadow withdrew, and Kim and Shego, only sharing a confused look, followed it. A house, hidden in the snow, stood at the top of the hill. The front door was open, waiting for Kim and Shego to enter.

"Tao!" Shego shouted, turning around once stepping inside. "Get up here!"

"She won't come inside," the voice from moments before said. "Not even when the snow starts again. She'll just do what Lobo does and burrow under a snow pack to sleep." A tall woman with short brown hair and black eyes stood before them. Pince-nez rested on the bridge of her nose, and she wore long black clothing for the winter.

"Why won't she come inside?" Kim asked. The woman, Ion Psymon, strode past them and closed the door. She stood there for a time, her hand on the doorknob.

"She won't tell me," she eventually said. "She hasn't spoken in sixteen years." A silence crept up into the room and took over each woman's voice. After many minutes, Ion turned around and leaned against the door, looking at Kim and Shego without a smile. "I assume you two are Kim Possible and Shego. You're all over the news—along with Tao. She's accused of kidnapping both of you."

"She didn't," Kim insisted. "She just kept the police from shooting Shego. If I hadn't gone with them…well, I had to go with them." Ion gave her a slightly lingering look, but did not ask.

"The storm is about to start," she murmured. "You two can stay here for the night. Even if Tao carried you both back to Middleton, you wouldn't be able to get there before you suffered severe frostbite." She started to turn away.

"Hold it," Shego snapped. Ion stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"The guest room is that way," she said, pointing past Kim and Shego. Shego glared at her.

"What is Tao?" she demanded. "I worked with a mad scientist on a regular basis. Human clones and gene splicing is insanely difficult. No one has found a completely stable method to do either one of them, let alone a combo of the two. Just how did you make such a powerhouse that doesn't have the usual symptoms of clones or splices?"

"You speak of the susceptibility to the combination of chemicals in soda for clones and the insanity that all spliced creatures eventually suffer from," Ion sighed. "I took all these factors into consideration twenty-six years ago. I worked for three years to try and discover the cause of the dissolving of the clones and the insanity for the spliced creatures. It came to me when I looked at a gene-overlay. There were inconsistencies in both, but as it was, if the methods were to be combined…."

"You could fix it?" Kim gaped. Ion closed her eyes with a faint smile of pride.

"All but one consistently fatal missing piece in the genes," she continued. "It took me another year of testing to discover how to fix it. There was no real base for the genes to keep hold of, figuratively, anyway. The splice genes and clone genes both had an inherent weakness in their physical makeup. The clones are not real humans because of the lack of human contact in their creation. They need a mother, so I gave one of my ovum to create what I privately named Tao."

"It was a success," Kim stated simply.

"Since science before me has mapped the human genome, it was simple to take out what weaknesses existed in my genetic code, duplicate it as if there had been a father, and add in the animal genes that had been selected. Muscular power of a black mamba, muscular endurance of a giant gray wolf, bite force of a great white, and the proportionate strength of a Hercules beetle to name a few. Tao was 'born' twenty-two years ago." Ion heaved a sigh and walked out of the room, leaving Kim and Shego alone.

The wind sounded harder, rattling the windowpanes. Shego's eyes flicked from the doorway that Ion had walked through to the front door a multitude of times. After a few minutes, she sighed and put her arm around Kim's shoulder. She turned the other young woman and led her down the hall into what Ion had called the guest room. The room was somewhat small with plain white walls. A bed, just large enough for two people, was tucked into a corner.

"This is some serious weirdness," Shego muttered, sitting down on the bed. "So once we get back into Middleton, Tao's going to be public enemy number one, and I'm down to number two. Why did I ever hook up with you? You're ruining my bad girl image." Kim smiled and sat down next to her.

"You should talk," she said. "I'm supposed to throw you in jail. At least you can claim good old seduction-to-get-at-me. Heroes don't do that."

"You should," Shego chuckled, wrapping her arms around Kim. "It's actually a lot of fun." Kim smiled at her again and put one hand over Shego's.

"I will eventually," she replied. "But not tonight. We should both just get some sleep."

"Spoilsport," Shego grumbled. She flashed Kim a smirk, however, and pulled the other young woman under the blanket with her, holding her close as they both fell asleep quickly.

----------

Kim sighed as Tao leapt away, jumping into the trees to avoid stepping in the new snow. She had carried Shego and Kim through the trees, not explaining why she did so. Shego dusted herself off, adjusting the collar of her leather jacket. She looked at Kim, spotting the strange gaze on the other young woman's face.

"What?" she asked.

"I feel like it's my fault that Tao can never come back into Middleton," Kim sighed in return. Shego sighed in exasperation, putting her hands behind her head to stretch.

"If it makes you feel better, you kind of are," she muttered. When Kim looked to her in shock, she continued. "You were the one who had to go and help her at the police station, from what you told me this morning. I'm pretty sure she could have gotten out by herself. But I'm part of it too. If she hadn't jumped between me and the cops, she wouldn't be charged with kidnapping. And of course, it's Drakken's fault because he blew up your house, and she had to save you."

"Are you saying she shouldn't have done all of that?" Kim demanded.

"No," Shego answered. "I'm saying she's too good. Look at her. She should hate everything around her. Why is she trying so hard to be a good person?"

"Not everyone is as dark-hearted as you think they are," Kim said tersely.

"That's not it," Shego said in turn. "Kim, think about everyone in that police station. The people who saw her, they don't want her alive—hell, they don't want her to exist. Have you ever thought about that? Even you would be mad at the world if no one wanted you to exist." There was a heavy silence. Shego sighed and kissed Kim on the cheek. "Listen, you should get back to wherever your family is right now and make sure they know you're all right. You know, why don't you tell the police the truth about Tao?"

"They won't believe me," Kim murmured rather forlornly. Shego smiled slightly and kissed her on the lips.

"If you need me, my cell phone is always on," she said. "Make sure to stay safe, all right? Avoid missions for a while." Kim managed to crack a minor smile and nodded. Shego patted her on the head and turned, walking away. Kim turned as well, walking slowly towards the place where her family's house had been.

The walk felt longer than she remembered, even though she had never walked from the edge of the city before. She couldn't comprehend what Shego had said. She did not understand how humanity could hate itself, even in such a varied form in Tao. She did not yet have the capacity for such hatred, which might have been why the world called her a hero.

"Kim!" Kim looked up at the shout, stopping dead in her tracks. The frame for a house—a house just like the one that had burned down—was already raised on the freshly cleared patch of land. Construction workers milled about, the sound of hammers loud in the cold air. A weight hit her around the middle and nearly knocked her over. Jim and Tim both had launched themselves at her and hugged her fiercely.

"Kim, look!" Jim cried joyously. "These guys heard what happened, and their boss said he owed you a favor! They're making us a new house!" Kim, still shocked, looked at the workers and the job they had done so far.

"That's great," she murmured in a stunned voice. However, what snapped her from her reverie was a faint rumbling in the ground. She looked up and saw, as if it were purposefully moving at a painfully slow rate, a giant robot stomping around a corner. One glaring, glowing red sphere—an eye—swiveled to stare at Kim from the black metal face of the machine.

"_Ah, Kim Possible,_" a voice echoed metallically from the robot. "_Just who I was looking for. Now where have you hidden Tao?_" Kim jerked in shock. She took a nervous step backwards, reaching into her pocket for any kind of gadget. When her hand found only a few hunks of lint, she remembered that she had left all of her things in her room. Everything had been destroyed in the explosion.

"What do you want with Tao?" Kim shouted back to the robot. A chuckle rattled inside the metal plates, sending a cold jolt down Kim's back.

"_I'm going to kill her,_" the voice laughed. "_Now where is she?_" Kim pushed her brothers away, putting her hands up as she fell, once more, into her comfortable stance. The robot's arm reared back, the three large, flat prongs opening wide to create the most space to crush Kim. Kim flipped backwards, and the closest prong slammed into the ground inches away from her feet when she landed. She sprang forwards, running up the robot's arm. A few feet before the arm met its shoulder, Kim leapt up and forward, both feet extended.

Her kick landed in the center of the red glowing eye, but did damage to Kim. Her legs bent against her will, her joints quivering for a moment before she began to fall away from the robot. The heroine twisted in midair, landing on her hands and flipping back. When she put her feet to the ground, her ankles would not support her weight. Kim stumbled and fell to the ground, looking up at the robot in fright.

"_Poor little cheerleader,_" the voice snickered. "_If you won't tell me where Tao is, then I guess I'll just have to kill you._" The robot's arm rose up to strike. Kim was unable to close her eyes. She watched as the arm began to fall at a blurring rate, but noticed a second blur appear before her. An echoing clang caused enough pain in Kim's ears to make her close her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she gasped.

"Tao, how are you…?" she questioned. Tao stood before her, hands holding the robot arm from striking Kim. Without pause, she threw the arm to the side into the ground. The robot lifted its arm from the cracked cement, the glacial laugh resonating from within its shell.

"_There you are, monster,_" the voice snarled. "_I'm going to kill you._" All the tension that was so obvious in Tao's body vanished at the voice. "_Oh, so the monster has a memory? You should remember me. Now be a good beast and die._" The prongs on the robot's arm opened again, a massive spike emerging from the center of the arm. When the robot struck, it appeared as though Tao did not move and was slammed into the ground. After the dust cleared, Tao was standing on the robot's arm, clutching her own bleeding arm.

An arc of blue-white electricity crackled through the air around Tao. It swirled around her body, jumping almost instantly to the metal of the robot. Tao smirked, the hair on her head and the fur on her tail rising up as the sound of raw electricity filled the air. A sheer blast of the electric energy flowed out of Tao and into the robot. She leapt away as the robot quaked, landing next to Kim just as the robot crashed to the ground in a heap. Before Kim realized what else had happened, Tao had a bloody hand on her wrist and someone else was holding a knife to her throat. She willed herself not to gasp when a gun was pointed at Tao.

"Unless you let her go, I'll shoot you and slice her throat," a young woman's voice snapped. "Step back now!" Tao slowly let go of Kim's hand, stepping back a few feet. "Dumb animal." The gun was fired, but Tao stepped slightly to the side. The bullet grazed her face, scorching open the skin. She stared at the woman behind Kim, her eyes still wide in shock. The young woman shot another bullet and Tao dodged, but she jerked forwards.

"Tao!" Kim shouted in shock. Tao stumbled and fell to the ground, unconscious, two tranquilizer darts in her back. "Tao!"

_—to be continued—_


	5. Hollow Scream

Outside In

C4: Hollow Scream

Disclaimer: Disney owns "Kim Possible." I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.

Kim wanted to see that Tao was all right. She wanted to rush to her and make sure that she wasn't dead. The knife against her throat, however, made her stop.

"I thought you were going to kill her," Kim said spitefully. As she spoke, a group of men in military uniform stormed up the road, a black car following them steadily. A strip of zip-tie plastic was laced around her wrists and tightened.

"I will," the young woman behind her snapped. She stepped out from behind Kim. She was only a few inches taller than Kim with short, dark brown hair and the same brown eyes. Her eyes stared at Tao's unconscious body with sheer loathing.

"Then why is she still alive?" Kim demanded. She struggled vainly against the restraints, but was stopped immediately by one of the uniformed men who took her by her shoulders.

"Because you can't bait a dead beast," the woman replied simply. "Take her to my father's lab. And make sure you wipe some of the blood on the car. Tao needs to be able to track us, after all." She continued to stare at Tao, eyes narrow. Before long, however, she got into the black car.

----------

"Wake up! Dammit, wake up!" Tao felt a flat palm connect with her cheek and opened her eyes. She looked up and found Shego kneeling in front of her. She coughed weakly, eyes blurred from the tranquilizers.

"Where's Kim?" Shego asked. "Where is she? Who took her?" Tao shook her head, closing her eyes tightly to concentrate on purging the toxins out of her blood. She blindly wrote a name in the snow with one hand, her left arm still bleeding. Shego looked at the name in confusion. "Who the hell is Farrah?"

Tao ignored her for a moment, ripping her shirtsleeve from where the robot's spike had sliced it open. She tied the scrap around the gash in her arm, pulling it tight with her teeth. Working her hand into a fist a few times to test her muscles, Tao stood up and took a deep breath. She pointed her thumb over her shoulder to signal to Shego to get on her back. Shego, however, grabbed her around the collar and slammed her against the tree she had been sitting against.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Shego snarled. "Your mother said you _stopped_ talking sixteen years ago. That means you _can_ talk. I want you to tell me _exactly_ what's going on before I gouge your eyes out!" She raised one hand, letting the green flames blaze with her anger. Tao did not speak, grabbing hold of both of Shego's wrists and pushing her away easily. She frowned, her hands tightening into fists. In a flash, she had spun on heel and tore massive strips from the tree with her claws. Her tail wrote words in the snow.

_I can't,_ the words said. _I can't talk until I can tell her what really happened._

"Tell who?" Shego asked.

----------

"My name is Farrah Green," the young woman said. Kim opened her eyes, letting her arms rest from struggling against her restraints. Farrah had sat down in a metal folding chair a few feet from the pipe Kim's arms were tied around. She was merely sitting. There was no typical pacing or raving that came with a capture. Kim looked at her in confusion.

"You're not exactly following super-villain protocol," she replied. Farrah smirked at her words.

"I'm not a super-villain," she answered. "I'm just out for revenge."

"What did Tao ever do to you?" Kim demanded, pulling at the plastic zip-tie around her wrists. Whatever miniscule flicker of warmth that was in Farrah's eyes immediately died. She frowned, glaring at Kim with such clear hatred in her face that the heroine recoiled.

"It's her fault that my mother is dead," Farrah snapped. "Sixteen years ago, my mother and I were kidnapped and she was murdered because of Tao. My father barely managed to save me."

"How is it Tao's fault?"

"Dr. Psymon was working with my father for a government project to create a kind of super-soldier. Tao was the result of this project. When Dr. Psymon ran away with Tao, my father was ordered to send troops to recover her. In retaliation, Dr. Psymon ordered Tao to kidnap my mother and I to hold us as hostages to make my father give up. Just before he agreed to leave her alone, she slaughtered my mother." Kim stared at the other young woman in shock.

"She was _six_," she insisted.

"And I was three," Farrah said in return. "What does that matter? She killed my mother."

"I don't believe you," Kim growled. "I know Tao. She wouldn't have done that." Farrah let out a long, cold laugh.

"You have no idea what she really is," she murmured. "Tao was created to be the perfect killing machine—the answer to every problem the United States military has or ever will have. She is the hound that hunts down the government's enemies."

"She's not an animal!" Kim shouted. "She's a person just like you and I!" Farrah stood up, the chair skittering across the floor in her haste to stand. She backhanded Kim with enough force to make the red-haired woman lose her balance and fall to the floor, her arms still painfully tied to the pipe. Kim looked up at Farrah, a line of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

"Don't ever tell me that I'm like Tao," Farrah snarled, eyes blazing with rage. "I'm nothing like her." She turned to walk away, but Kim spoke up.

"You're right," she said. "You aren't like Tao. At least she has some good in her." Farrah froze. After a moment, she turned and knelt down, grabbing Kim's chin and staring straight into her eyes.

"Don't talk like you know me," she ordered. She stood up and turned, leaving Kim alone in the room.

----------

The guards that stood on duty turned around when the hissing sound of metal heating started to echo in the massive corridor. The metal of the front door was glowing bright red, and began to fall away in large molten chunks. When the door fell away completely, steam filled the doorway from the metal and snow meeting. Shego burst through the cloud and slammed into one of the two guards, pinning him against the wall. The man was about to shout to his comrade, but paled when he saw Tao standing with the second guard unconscious at her feet.

"You're going to tell us where Kim is," Shego said simply, holding up a hand. It burst into bright green flames, and she held it close enough to the guard that he began to sweat and whimper. "Where is she?" The guard, trembling and unable to speak, pointed down the hall. Shego glanced in the direction before letting her flames dissipate and punching the man in the forehead. He crumbled to the floor.

There was only one path in the hallway. It led to large, metal double doors that stood ominously closed. Tao crouched down and sprang forwards, charging the doors. She hit them in the center with the curve of her shoulder, breaking them down off their hinges with an echoing bang. Shego jogged in after her, her hands dancing with her green flames.

"Shego! Tao!" Both women looked up at the cry. Shego, seeing Kim tied to the large pipe, ran forwards immediately. Even if Tao had shouted to warn her, she would not have listened. Thusly, she did not see the two cables flying at her. The cables carried her into the wall, the spikes at the ends of both stabbing deep and hard into the concrete wall. With a suddenness that blinded the three women, lights flashed on and lit up the room.

"After sixteen long years, we meet once more." The voice came from a ledge ten feet above the ground, from a man in dress military attire and with gray hair. He smirked at Tao rather viciously. "You remember me, don't you?"

"And you remember me," another voice said from across the room. Farrah stood leaning against the wall, glaring at Tao. "It's time to settle this Tao—once and for all. You will die here." Despite the situation, Shego snorted.

"And who's going to do it?" she inquired. "You?" Farrah smiled darkly.

"No," she answered. "Tao is going to kill herself." A panel slid up from the wall beside her. The sight that was revealed was eerie. Tao stood just beside Farrah, smirking at herself. Tao's eyes widened in shock, and the two stared at each other.

"Kill her," Farrah murmured. The Tao that stood beside her vanished in a blur, but reappeared in the center of the room, where Tao originally had stood. She hit the wall, having been slammed into by her clone. After a moment, she sprang back off the wall and launched herself at Tao. The two stood in the center of the room, trading blow after blow.

"I'm sure you want to know how I did this," the man said. "With the blood that Tao wiped off on Possible, I was able to create a clone. With the proper acceleration, the answer to my problems was created." Small bursts of blood erupted from each strike, claws on both hands and feet tearing into flesh. The sheer force of the kicks, punches, and open-handed swipes sent one Tao flying, the other laying chase.

They hit the walls, running along them to reposition themselves for powerful blows. When they leapt, a crack rang out and they hit the ground. Unable to see which was which, Kim and Shego watched in horror as Tao fought Tao. A scream—a scream filled with such pain that Kim felt tears come to her eyes—suddenly came from one of the two. One Tao was kicked away, and when both stood, Shego drew a breath in terror.

One Tao stood with four bloody gashes shredded over and through her left eye, the eye completely destroyed. The other stood, holding her right arm, which extending at a strange angle. Both women were panting from exertion, blood dripping onto the floor around them.

"How can you just watch this?" Kim demanded, shouting through tears. Farrah and the man did not reply, instead watching the two women in the center of the room. "They're killing each other! Even if you wanted revenge, this is just sick!" Farrah only continued to stare at both of the women, something smoldering deep in her eyes. The Tao with the broken arm charged forward, leaping up and clamping her fangs onto Tao's right shoulder.

Before she could leap back, however, Tao grabbed her around the middle and would not release. The sound of raw electricity began to ring out in the room. After a short time, Tao let go. Tao fell to the floor and twitched only a few times as her skin let off steam before falling still in death. Kim and Shego stared in horror at the corpse. Farrah stood straight from the wall, taking a few steps towards Tao. She heard the sound of a gun being cocked, however, and turned. She froze when she saw her father aiming the gun at her. He smiled at her and pulled the trigger.

Farrah stood in shock when the splash of warm blood hit her in the face. She could not find it in herself to recoil when Tao, shoulder pierced through by the bullet, put her arms around her. The silver-haired woman panted with weariness and pain, but swallowed and looked at Farrah with her remaining eye with a faint smile.

"I swore to protect you." Tao spoke, and Farrah heard. Her voice, though laced so heavily with pain it could not help but tremble, was gentle. "I promised your mother I would. And I could not speak until now because you would never have believed it." She took a deep breath, pulled her arms away, and turned around. Tao cast her arms out, creating a shield from her body.

"Once again, you get in my way," the man, Dr. Green, sighed. "Didn't you learn your lesson sixteen years ago?" Tao smirked at him.

"I learned my lesson from the woman you had murdered," she replied. Farrah's eyes widened at the words.

"What?" she asked in a whisper. Tao looked at her over her shoulder with a sad smile.

"I didn't kill your mother, Farrah," she said. "Your father commanded three of his soldiers to take you and your mother captive and kill you both."

"Why?" Farrah asked.

"Why?" Dr. Green demanded. "You ask 'why?' Your mother was a fool. If she had gotten her way with my superiors, Tao here would have been free to live her life as a monster in the human world. She even did a psychological study on her by seeing what would happen if she played with a three-year-old child after six years of military training. You were her playmate, Farrah.

"The report was a bullet in the head for my super-soldier project. It showed how much damage Tao's mind was beginning to suffer. She was restless in her training—but you, little Farrah, your influence was helping her to become something less like a weapon and more like a person. You and your mother had to die, and Dr. Psymon and Tao were the perfect scapegoats."

"But why did you save me?" Farrah asked in a whisper to Tao. Tao smiled over her shoulder again.

"When you played with me, I smelled something from you," she murmured in return. "I had no idea what it was, but I always wanted to smell it again and again. I wanted to be around you. There was no way I could have understood what I felt when I was six until recently. I love you, Farrah." She turned back to Dr. Green, smirking at him.

"Playing a shield?" he asked. "You assume that I won't kill you because I need you for my project."

"Pretty much," Tao replied. "Clones aren't as good as the real thing." Dr. Green chuckled.

"And soda is rarely used as weaponry in war," he answered. "You're expendable." He cocked the handgun once more. Tao tensed, readying her body for the next bullet. Dr. Green smirked when he saw his daughter move and fired his shot. Farrah pushed Tao out of the way, the bullet piercing her thigh completely. She let out a cry of pain, falling to the floor from lack of balance. Tao stared at the blood that seeped from between Farrah's clenched fingers.

Dr. Green chuckled at the sight, but gasped when Tao suddenly appeared in front of him. Her fangs were bared, a tiger's growl rumbling from her throat. Her remaining gold eye burned with the purest of rage. Without any hesitation, she grabbed him by the throat and snapped his neck. After he fell to the floor, Tao heaved herself over the ledge, clinging to the wall to keep from falling. She walked to Shego and pulled the cables from the wall to free her. Shego in turn ran to Kim and sliced the plastic zip tie apart, pulling the other woman close.

"I'm OK," Kim murmured over and over, hugging Shego just as tightly as the black-haired woman did to her. "Are you all right?" Shego chuckled weakly, rubbing Kim's head affectionately.

"I'm fine, Kim," she answered. "Let's just get out of here." She stood and turned around, flames surrounding her hands. Sphere after sphere of powerful green flames were hurled at the door until it fell away in soft molten hunks. To their surprise, Tao was already walking for the door, carrying Farrah in her arms.

"Tao, stop!" Kim said, both she and Shego running to the silver-haired woman. "You're hurt!" The gentle smile that Tao gave them made them stop where they stood.

"My legs are fine," she said. "I can at least get Farrah to the hospital for her leg."

"Tao, she threatened to kill you five minutes ago!" Shego snapped. "Why are you helping her now?"

"Because I love her," Tao repeated. "Come on." She turned and walked out the door, Kim and Shego following her after a moment and a shared, confused glance. The night and a new snow were starting to fall when the four women left the military facility. It was only just beyond Upperton, and in a bare five minutes, they had entered into the city. What people there were on the sidewalks parted when they saw Kim leading Tao towards the nearest hospital, Shego walking just behind them to ward off attackers that did not appear.

When they walked into the hospital, the doctors and nurses that were walking their rounds stopped. It was a quiet moment, the only sound the ticking of the clock in the front lobby and the faint dripping of blood from Tao's wounds. Tao smiled at no one and everyone.

"She needs your help," she said. "Could someone help?" Her words caused a stir. A doctor shouted for a gurney, which was rushed over to where Tao stood by two nurses. Tao gently laid Farrah onto the gurney, smiling at her. She made to step back, but felt her consciousness swirling away from her. Tao hit the ground with shouts and cries accompanying her into darkness.

_—to be concluded—_


	6. Beside Heaven

Outside In

Epilogue: Beside Heaven

Disclaimer: Disney owns "Kim Possible." I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.

Kim smirked as the ninja monkey hit the floor. It had been three years, and Lord Monkey Fist never taught his legions of ninja monkeys anything new. It was too easy nowadays to beat both monkey and master. As she caught the last monkey by the tail and threw him aside, Monkey Fist leapt at her feet first. They fought for a few minutes, but Kim easily tripped him and put her foot on his chest to keep him down.

"Curse you, Kim Possible!" he growled while panting.

"You know, you say that every time," Kim said in turn. "When is this curse going to come into effect?" Monkey Fist grinned at her, pulling a small remote from the inside of his sleeve.

"Now," he chuckled simply. He pushed the large red button on the remote. When nothing happened after a moment, he pushed it again. Monkey Fist pushed the button a multitude of times, growing progressively paler with each failed press.

"Aw, is the monkey looking for his laser?" Shego's jeering voice called down from the high wall of the monkey kung-fu master's compound. She stood beside the demolished ruins of a tracking laser gun, smugly looking at her nails. Monkey Fist broke down in sobs at his newest failure.

When Interpol arrived (Monkey Fist had set up his base in Spain of all places this time round), the lieutenant detective greeted Kim and handed her a check before rounding up the monkeys and Monkey Fist. Shego walked up behind Kim and put her arms around the red-haired woman.

"Ooh, this was a good one," she said, spying the hefty figure on the check. "Glad you finally started charging for services rendered." Kim laughed and leaned back into Shego's embrace.

"Glad you started working with me," Kim replied. "Everything seems…almost too easy right now." Shego kissed her on the cheek.

"Well, call it practice for when the world really needs us," she murmured. "And even if we have trouble, we do have a friend or two waiting in the wings. Come on—let's go home."

----------

"You can stop hiding behind that tree if you want to. You aren't even trying anyway." Tao stepped out from behind the lone, bare tree in the cemetery and walked to stand a few feet away from Farrah. The brown-haired woman stood in a long black coat, staring down at two headstones.

"How's your leg?" Tao asked gently. Farrah let out a soft laugh.

"You nearly die because of me and you ask me if I'm all right," she murmured in wonderment. "I'm fine." She finally looked up at Tao and nearly began to cry at the bandages covering the left half of the silver-haired woman's face, as well as the sling her right arm rested in. Tao smiled at her.

"I'm fine," she said.

"You're a liar," Farrah said, rubbing at her eyes. She frowned when her hands came away damp. "You lost an eye and you were shot. Don't tell me you're fine." She knelt down, weeping openly now for the pain Tao had suffered, and in remembrance of her mother, who was buried just before her. Tao took a few tentative steps forward before crouching down in front of Farrah.

She pulled the sling from her torso, tossing it aside before reaching up to untie the bandages around her head. The bandages fluttered to the ground, revealing the four fresh scars over Tao's left eye. Farrah let out a sob and reached out, burying her face in Tao's chest as she cried. Tao lifted one of Farrah's hands and put it over the scars, smiling at the other woman as she did so.

"You should know something about me," she explained. She pulled Farrah's hand away, revealing an open, perfectly intact golden eye. "I can heal myself like you wouldn't believe. I'm fine." Farrah sniffed and rubbed at her eyes.

"Why are you here?" she asked in confusion.

"To visit your mother," Tao replied. "I thought I should, now that I've told you everything. And I've just been making sure that you're all right."

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

"How can you? I've blamed you for my mother's death for years. I've called you a monster for years. How can you love me?"

"I don't know, but I do." Farrah smiled slightly.

"Fine. Then let me do this." She leaned to Tao and kissed her. After a moment, she pulled back. Tao smiled at her. Her tail slowly swung about her, the appendage holding two red roses. She laid one on the grave of Farrah's mother and handed the other to Farrah. The two women walked from the cemetery, hand in hand. The sun shone in the cloudless blue sky in a moment of perfection. The moment did not fade.

_—end—_


End file.
